Visual

An anthology of stories and poetry written by Canadian LGBTQ2 authors who are immigrants, refugees, or Canada-born.

“What does it mean to be LGBTQ2 in Canada? The only possible answer to that question is one given in many voices. That is exactly what this book offers. There is struggle in these stories and poems, but there is also strength and resilience, compassion and determination. Woven together these voices leave me with a sense of hopefulness: a belief that the creativity and fierce commitment of our community will carry us forward as we work to create a Canada that lives up to the dream of freedom and safety it represents to so many people around the world.” — Robin Stevenson, author of Pride: Celebrating Diversity and Community

Review
The anthology pieces are diverse with authors who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and 2-Spirited. It also includes stunning artwork by LGBTQ artists and allies. — Rainbow Refugee Society

Contemporary First Nations artists of the Northwest Coast have long been among the most dynamic, important artists working in North America. Their art is a visible manifestation of the extraordinary cultural explosion that has transformed First Nations life up and down the B.C. coast.

Through their own words and artwork, Ian Thom examines the career, working methods and philosophy of forty active artists, all of whom he has interviewed. Featured in Challenging Traditions are their works, often combining new materials and old traditions, as well as extensive passages from conversations with these established and up-and-coming artists from the Pacific Northwest Coast, including:

Cloudwalker, describing the creation of the rivers, is the second in a series of Northwest Coast legends by Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd. Their previous collaboration, Raven Brings the Light (2013), is a national bestseller.

On British Columbia's northwest coast lies the Sacred Headwaters--the source of three of British Columbia's largest salmon-bearing rivers. These rivers are the source of life for all creatures in the area. But what gave life to the rivers themselves?

Astace, a young Gitxsan hunter, is intent on catching a group of swans with his bare hands. He is carried away by the birds' powerful wings and dropped in the clouds. With only a cedar box of water Astace wanders the clouds, growing weaker, stumbling and spilling the contents. When he finally returns to earth he discovers lakes, creeks, and rivers where there were none before. The Gitxsan rejoice at having him home, and name the new river they live alongside Ksien--"juice from the clouds."

Roy Henry Vickers' vibrant artwork, including 18 new prints, accompany this new retelling of an ancient story--readers of all ages will be captivated.

A gorgeous retrospective on the transformation of Inuit art in the 20th century, mirroring the vast and poignant cultural changes in the North. In response to a rapidly changing Arctic environment, Inuit have had to cope with the transition from a traditional lifestyle to the disturbing realities of globalization and climate change. Inuit art in the latter half of the 20th century reflects the reciprocal stimulus of contact with Euro-Canadians and embodies the evolution of a modern Inuit aesthetic that springs from an ancient cultural context, creating an exciting new hybridized art form. Inuit Modern: Art from the Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection situates modern Inuit art within a larger framework that reinterprets the Canadian Arctic. Essays by leading Canadian scholars in the field including Ingo Hessel, Robert McGhee, Christine Laloude, Heather Igloliorte, Dorothy Eber and Bernadette Driscoll Engelstad examine the social, political and cultural transformation through the dynamic lens of colonial influence and agency. Inuit Modern also features interviews with David Ruben Piqtoukun and Zacharias Kunuk.

His work has been exhibited across Canada with pieces on permanent loan to the Museum of Nature and Culture in Montreal. In Isuma, Ruben's vibrant, provocative sculpture, and his artistic process, are brought to life by photographer Estelle Marcoux Komangapik's arresting images.

Part autobiography, part art object, this book will introduce Canadians to one of the Arctic's most talented young artists.

The major retrospective of one of Canada's most important and original contemporary artists.

Unceded Territories is a major and timely review of the work of Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, spanning thirty years of his painterly and polemical practice. It places the artist’s concerns in dialogue with this moment in our shared histories. An artist of Cowichan and Okanagan descent, Yuxweluptun lives and works on unceded Coast Salish territories in Vancouver, British Columbia. He calls himself a history painter, a monumentalist, a modernist. Impassioned in his commitment to advance First Nations rights to the land and effect change, Yuxweluptun fuses art with political action – he “paints freedom and equality”.

This retrospective includes brilliant commentary from Michael Turner, Lucy Lippard, Marcia Crosby, Glenn Alteen, a short-story by Jimmie Durham. In an extensive dialogue, curators Karen Duffek and Tania Willard discuss the meaning of Yuxweluptun’s practice and place it in the context of the First Nations struggle for autonomy, justice, and environmental preservation. In a searing and powerful artist’s statement, Yuxweluptun himself explains the essence of his painting and the forces that drive his artistic and political life.

Published to accompany the exhibition at the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology this volume includes 65 of Yuxweluptun’s paintings from the last three decades and will be a lasting document of his art and activism.

Listening to Our Ancestors profiles native communities of the Pacific Northwest and showcases the region's rich cultural history and artwork. Here, in a series of community self-portraits, cultural figures from eleven Northwest Coast nations discuss the ways in which these masterpieces, as well as everyday tools and utensils from the museum's collections, connect them with their forbears, who made and used these beautiful objects.

This indispensable and beautifully illustrated book is the first to introduce everyone, from the casual observer to the serious collector of Northwest Coast prints, to the forms, cultural background and structures of this highly imaginative art.

Bold, inventive indigenous art of the Northwest Coast is distinguished by its sophistication and complexity. It is also composed of basically simple elements which, guided by a rich mythology, create images of striking power.

The elements of style are introduced; the myths and legends which shape the motifs are interpreted; the stylistic differences between the major cultural groupings are defined and illustrated. Raven, Thunderbird, Killer Whale, Bear: all the traditional forms are here, deftly analyzed by a professional writer and artist who has a deep understanding of this powerful culture.

One of Canada's most evocative modern painters, Cree artist Dale Auger was a gifted interpreter of First Nations culture, using the cross-cultural medium of art to portray scenes from the everyday to the sacred and dissemble stereotypes about Indigenous peoples. Medicine Paint is a collection of Auger's best work, reproduced in glorious full colour and reflecting the evolution of the artist's distinctive style. Including a revealing look back at his life and professional development, the book is a stunning tribute to the master Aboriginal artist.

Auger uses bold, bright colours in his oil paintings to explore the intricate links between spirituality and the natural laws of the land. Birds, beasts and human forms are carried from the dreamworld onto canvas, their spirits channeled through his paintbrush and presented in brilliant yellows, mystic blues, vibrant reds and swirls of black. Infusing his subjects with energy, life and colour, Dale Auger masterfully presents scenes that are powerful, spiritual and inspiring. A bald eagle is majestic in flight against a bright blue sky. An elder makes a solemn offering to the Sky Being. Horses dance playfully in the frame for a sweat lodge. A warrior draws his bow and points it skyward.

It is winter. The land lies still, quiet and stark beneath a blanket of snow. The tiny footprints of a mouse can be seen in the light of the moon.

"Wrapped in the quiet, and there in the bleak, there stood a wise mouse, preparing to speak."

The words that mouse chose were from many years past. She spoke them into the cold night air. So begins the enchanting story of a very special Winter Solstice celebration.

Kwakwaka’wakw author Terri Mack and Tsimshian artist Bill Helin have collaborated to bring us this story of strength, friendship and celebration. The lyrical text and engaging illustrations will appeal to readers of all ages.

Author's note:

Gila'kasla!
I spent a year writing and rewriting this poem to be sure to convey the message clearly to my audience. It was important to me that the poem reflect the importance of us all joining together to find the sacredness in celebration, the joy of belonging within a greater community and the voice of determination inside of each of us. Inspired by Indigenous Peoples rising, healing and joining together I hope that this poem inspires our youth to be strong and determined in all their future goals.
~Terri Mack

THE BLOOD RESERVE (Canada's largest native reserve) is a land of wind, prairie, mountains, and rivers, a land of dramatic physical beauty. It is the setting for George Webber's stunning collection of black-and-white photographs, People of the Blood. From the spring of 1992 until the late summer of 2005, Webber journeyed to the reserve from his home in Calgary, documenting his experiences on film and with pen and paper.

People of the Blood is an intimate and compelling story of the reserve's people and stark, sweeping landscape told in black and white. In his quest to photograph and document hope and darkness in the western Canadian landscape, Webber has ceaselessly photographed the people, small communities, and the land for a quarter century. People of the Blood documents a photographic journey spanning over a decade, one that put Webber in contact with the strong people of the Blood, their spiritual practices, their hopes, their challenges, wins and losses.

With grace and compassion, Webber shows us the sweat lodge and the sun dance, the faces of hope and despair, rodeos and funerals, quiet kitchen conversations and heartbreaking devastation.

Never an interloper, Webber's quiet presence is that of a documentary photographer of the first order, which seeks to tell the stories of the people and the land in which they live. As it moves between the realms of the spiritual world and harsh reality, interspersed with the incredible beauty of the landscape, People of the Blood captures the light in the darkness, the hope that exists in the Blood people, who live in unforgiving landscapes and social circumstances. In his grainy, dark imagery, Webber continues to capture these sparks in what might seem to be barren surroundings.

In a time when darkness covered the land, a boy named Weget is born who is destined to bring the light. With the gift of a raven's skin that allows him to fly as well as transform, Weget turns into a bird and journeys from Haida Gwaii into the sky. There he finds the Chief of the Heavens who keeps the light in a box. By transforming himself into a pine needle, clever Weget tricks the Chief and escapes with the daylight back down to Earth.

Vividly portrayed through the art of Roy Henry Vickers, Weget's story has been passed down for generations. The tale has been traced back at least 3,000 years by archeologists who have found images of Weget's journey in petroglyphs on the Nass and Skeena rivers. This version of the story originates from one told to the author by Chester Bolton, Chief of the Ravens, from the village of Kitkatla around 1975.

Roy Henry Vickers is a renowned carver, painter and printmaker whose Eagle Aerie Gallery in Tofino, BC, has become a provincial landmark. In 1998, Roy was appointed to the Order of British Columbia and in 2006, the Order of Canada, and has received the Queen's Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals. He currently lives in Hazelton, BC.

Robert Budd (known as Lucky) is the host of the CBC radio series Voices of BC. Holding an MA in history, he has digitized many high profile oral history collections including that of the Nisga'a First Nation. He is the author of the book Voices of British Columbia, which was shortlisted for the 2011 Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award, and currently lives in Victoria, BC.

S’abadeb, the Lushootseed word for “gifts,” invokes the reciprocity that is at the heart of Salish culture. It expresses the importance of offering gifts at potlatches, giving thanks during ceremonies, respecting the creativity bestowed upon artists and leaders and honouring the master artists, oral historians and cultural leaders who pass vital cultural information to future generations.

S’abadeb—The Gifts brings together current scholarship with indigenous knowledge for the first time. Twelve essays examine how the history and culture of gifts are reflected in art, including pieces written by:

More than 200 photographs, most of them full colour, showcase the best of Salish art, including monumental house posts, expertly crafted basketry and woven regalia and stunning contemporary works in glass wood, and paint.

Roy Henry Vickers is known around the world for his unique artistic style marked by clean lines, vivid colours and natural themes drawn from the rugged beauty of the west coast of British Columbia. Influenced by his Tsimshian, Haida, Heiltsuk and British heritage, Vickers unites the stylized forms of his aboriginal ancestry with the realism of European art, creating vibrant images that speak to a universal spirit. His limited edition prints can be found in homes, museums and galleries around the world and have been presented to royalty.

Storyteller collects a decade of prints and paintings by Roy Henry Vickers into one stunning volume, including 118 previously unpublished works, making this a much-anticipated addition to the libraries of admirers of Pacific Northwest art. A note from the artist accompanies each image, inviting the reader to a deeper understanding of both art and artist.

A gorgeous collection of prints by one of the Northwest's leading artists

Over the past thirty years Susan Point has become the preeminent Coast Salish artist of her generation, exploring many different modern and traditional themes in a wide variety of media. She has received major public commissions in her home province of British Columbia as well as throughout the Northwest coast, the traditional territory of her people, creating extraordinary monumental sculptures that grace important public buildings. Her glass sculptures are collected around the world. This is the first book devoted exclusively to her works on paper. Over the past thirty years Point has been an innovator in printmaking, adapting traditional Coast Salish themes to modern art techniques, translating the heritage of her culture to the wider world while creating a body of work that appeals to art collectors from around the globe. Her synthesis of contemporary and traditional styles has resulted in a formidable artistic accomplishment. This beautifully designed volume collects 160 of her prints together for the first time and is sure to inspire and amaze those who see it.